Budd Davisson's Pilot Reports are a must.
Some are available as podcasts, but there are also reprints of his articles from Air Progress. I recommend starting with this article from 1971 to get a flavour. Note in particular the recent preface.
Although he has a basic outline, the actual course has to be custom-tailored to the individual's needs. Basically, for $1,800 (Ed: sit down before you read the rest of this sentence. You won’t believe it!) you get 10 hours of Stearman time, 10 hours of T-6 (five front, five back), two hours of Mustang, a couple hours in the B-25 and two in the Bearcat (or four in the B-25 to try for a type rating).
When I read that article (in Calgary in 1971), if I hadn't been married, I would have gone like a shot, even though it was about three months salary!
$1800 in 1971 is about $11,000-$12,000 now. Can anyone offer me the same deal?
The articles are here:
Pilot Reports on fighters, bombers, antique aircraft and homebuilt aircraft
and the podcasts are here:
The Flight Journal Podcast with Budd Davisson - Flight Journal
WARNING: Clicking on these links can be an incredible time waster! This post took me 45 minutes to write because I re-read the P51 article.
